Etymology and concept of Finland

Astuvansalmi rock paintings at Saimaa. The oldest date from 3000 to 2500 BCE. Etymology

The name Finland appears on three rune-stones. Two were found in the Swedish province of Uppland and have the inscription finlonti (U 582). The third was found in Gotland, in the Baltic Sea. It has the inscription finlandi (G 319) and dates from the 13th century.

Suomi

The name Suomi (Finnish for "Finland") has uncertain origins, but a candidate for a cognate is the Proto-Baltic word *źemē, meaning "land". In addition to the close relatives of Finnish (the Finnic languages), this name is also used in the Baltic languages Latvian and Lithuanian. Alternatively, the Indo-European word *gʰm-on "man" (cf. Gothic guma, Latin homo) has been suggested, being borrowed as *ćoma. The word originally referred only to the province of Finland Proper, and later to the northern coast of Gulf of Finland, with northern regions such as Ostrobothnia still being sometimes excluded until later. Earlier theories suggested derivation from suomaa (fen land) or suoniemi (fen cape), and parallels between saame (Sami, a Finno-Ugric people in Lapland) and Häme (a province in the inland) were drawn, but these theories are now considered outdated.

Concept

In the 12th and 13th centuries, the term "Finland" mostly referred to the area around Åbo (Turku), a region that later became known as Finland Proper, while the other parts of the country were called Tavastia and Karelia, but which could also sometimes be collectively referred to as "Österland" (compare Norrland). (Medieval politics concerned tribes such as the Finns, the Tavastians and the Karelians more than geographical boundaries.)

In the 15th century, "Finland" became a common name for the whole land area to the east of the Bothnian Sea, possibly even including Åland, when the archipelago was seen as belonging to Åbo (Turku). What the term actually refers to can vary between sources, also the boundaries to the east and the north were not exact. A sort of establishment for Finland as a unity, if only in name, came when John III of Sweden called his duchy as the "grand duchy of Finland" (about 1580), as a strategy to meet the claims of the Russian tsar. The term became part of the title of the King of Sweden but had little practical meaning. The Finnish land area had the same standing as the area to the west of the Bothnian Sea and the Finnish part of the realm had the same representation in the parliament as the western part had. In 1637, Queen Christina named Per Brahe the Younger as Governor General of Finland, Åland, and Ostrobothnia (other parts of Sweden had also had governor generals).

The modern boundaries of Finland actually came to use only after the end of Sweden-Finland. What was signed over to Russia in 1809 was not so much a "Finland" as six counties, Åland, and a little part of Västerbotten County. The boundary between the new Grand Duchy of Finland and the remaining part of Sweden could have been drawn along the river Kemijoki, which was the boundary between Västerbotten County and Österbotten County (Ostrobothnia) at the time - which the Swedish proposed in the peace negotiations - or along the river Kalix, thereby including the Finnish-speaking part of the Torne Valley - which the Russians proposed. The boundary, which followed the Torne River and the Muonio River to the fells Saana and Halti in the northwest, was a compromise, which later became what the concept of Finland came to stand for - at least after the tsar Alexander I of Russia permitted the parts of Finland located to the east of the Kymi River which were conquered by Russia in 1721 and 1743, called "Old Finland", to be administratively included in "New Finland" in 1812.